The latest Vampire Diaries posters have elicited two very strong reactions from fans/people in the blogosphere: 1) Amusement at the play on “forbidden fruit”; 2) utter disgust at all the blood. And it is pretty gross. We get it — it’s a show about vampires, who subsist on humans’ blood. But they’re about a ton of other stuff, too: Super strength, sexy brooding guilt, wicked fangs and claws. Why don’t we see those in posters more often?

The answer is, we used to see grittier, darker (literally: bad lighting!) posters for the vampire shows of the ’90s. When the ’00s came around, it was all stark lights and gallons of fake blood. So, join us in this chronological trip through the promotional posters for Buffy, Being Human, Moonlight, and more.